Adidas and TBWA Hong Kong create an in-store virtual reality fitting room that ‘tests customers’ in snow run cold weather conditions
With the release of the adidas Climaheat jackets, adidas Hong Kong created a virtual reality fitting room at its Hong Kong adidas Sport Performance Flagship store in Causeway Bay.
While ordinarily, customers would try on apparel in a conventional fitting room, the adidas VR fitting room exposed customers to weather effects including audio, visual and temperature control. The fitting room environment simulated training in cold weather, which added a degree of realism to the “snow run” that customers were challenged to complete in the VR game.
Passersby on the street outside of the adidas store were also able to see inside the fitting room via a physical window.
“The window for winter in Hong Kong is usually very small and in November and early December it’s not quite cold enough for people to immediately decide to buy winter wear,” said Rachel Howard, Senior Brand Director, adidas Hong Kong.
Although the adidas Climaheat jacket is designed to lock in body heat and let moisture out so the wearer can stay dry, Howard said the best way for customers to consider the Climaheat jacket is to ‘test’ the jacket in context.
“The aim of the VR experience is not only to allow customers to have fun and bring something different to the fitting room experience,” said Rachel. “The goal is to let customers experience the product benefits first-hand instead of just reading the product catalogue.”
The VR experience ran from November 19 to November 27 and is part of the Climaheat campaign, which is running on outdoor, digital and social media across November and December. Over 800 people played the VR game during the period.
“In Hong Kong retail, it’s a convention for brands to display winter products out of seasonal context,” said Jan Cho, General Manager, TBWA Hong Kong. “Instead, we wanted to inspire customers with an immersive experience of deep winter, which promotes the Climaheat jacket in the right context.”
CREDITS
Creative Agency – TBWA\ Hong Kong
General Manager – Jan Cho
Executive Creative Director – Esther Wong
Creative Directors – Calvin Chow, Louis Fung
Senior Art Director – Ka Lok Luk
Art Director – Liam Chan, Vanis Ng
Copywriter – Tszho Chung
Business Director – Pauline Wong
Group Account Director – Jan Lee
Associate Account Director – Karen Tong
Account Manager – Stephanie Lee
Senior Account Executive – Sze Lam
Senior Digital Producer – Anne Chan
Digital Producer – Brendan Ma
Associate Producer – Zoe Lin
Senior Video Artist – Harry Yiu
Digital Partner – ManyMany Creations